A Field Guide to Stars and Planets (Peterson Field Guide) [Paperback]

Jay M. Pasachoff Professor of Astronomy (Author), Roger Tory Peterson (Editor), Wil Tirion (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0395934311 | ISBN-13: 978-0395934319 | Edition: 4th,Updated

The fourth edition of this best-selling field guide has been completely revised and updated to include the latest information from leading astronomical sources. All the time-sensitive material is new and valid through 2017: solar eclipses, phases of the moon, positions of the planets, and more. Twenty-four Monthly Sky Maps, all newly revised and in color, show exactly what you'll see when facing north or south in the night sky. Fifty-two Atlas Charts, also revised and in color, cover the entire sky, including close-ups of areas of special interest such as the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula. The hundreds of thousands of devoted users of the previous editions of this guide have been eagerly awaiting this new volume so they can continue to enjoy their hobby in the coming decades.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brimming with dazzling celestial photographs and timely astronomical information, the newly revised Peterson Field Guide to the Stars and Planets is a must-have resource for any amateur stargazer." Country Living Gardener

"An excellent introduction to astronomy for beginners and a field guide for experts." St. Louis Post-Dispatch

About the Author

Jay M. Pasachoff is the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy and director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Professor Pasachoff has done extensive research on the solar corona at total eclipses and has been on 29 eclipse expeditions. He has also used a wide variety of telescopes around the world. He is the author of popular textbooks on astronomy and on other science subjects. He has twice been chair of the Astronomy Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is the chair of the Working Group on Eclipses of the International Astronomical Union and the U.S. national representative to the IAU's Commission on the Teaching of Astronomy.

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world"s greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars, and the Peterson Field Guides® are credited with helping to set the stage for the environmental movement.

Wil Tirion, is this generation's foremost celestial cartographer. He designed and drew the Monthly Sky Maps, the Atlas Charts, and the charts of Planetary positions.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 4th,Updated edition (November 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395934311
• ISBN-13: 978-0395934319
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Star-Gazing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great reference but poor for use in the field, September 24, 2001

By 

Colin Banfield (Kanata, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Field Guide to Stars and Planets (Peterson Field Guide) (Paperback)

This review is for the softcover version. I feel almost bad to give this great guide 3 stars. The book contains a lot of very good information - more so than many books several times larger. As such, it's an excellent reference for beginner and more advanced user alike. However, the book fails miserably for field use, which, ironically, it is supposed to be designed for.

The cover frays and acquires "dog-ears" in a relatively short time of field use. In contrast, the Audubon field guides use a much more resilient plastic softcover. The pages smude easily from finger oils - remember, this is a guide you should be able to use for 8 years or so (until the next edition) so these are unacceptable shortcomings IMHO. By far the biggest gripe I have with this book, however, is the the choice of red to identify galaxies, star clusters etc in the atlas charts. These marks completely disappear under red light(!!!), making the charts useless for finding deep sky objects in the field. Finally, how are you supposed to operate equipment and keep the book open? Because it lacks spiral binding, the only way to use it hands-off is to put a weight on the page you're referencing.

If you're looking for a great reference to use at home, this guide is hard to beat - in fact, I highly recommend it. However, look elsewhere for more useful star charts with deep sky objects to use in the field.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of my "desert island" books., May 6, 2004

By 

Gavin Scott (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Field Guide to Stars and Planets (Peterson Field Guide) (Paperback)

If I had to choose a small number of books to take with me into exile on some deserted island somewhere, this would definitely be one of them (and offhand I'm not sure I can name any others).

An entire astronomy library packed into a single portable field guide, Jay Pasachoff's entry in the Peterson Field Guide series is a delightful introduction to, and reference for, the universe revealed in the night sky.

If you have any interest in astronomy at all, you can always find something in here to look at or just to sit and ponder about.

Besides the obvious things like monthly star charts for both northern and southern hemispheres, the book contains a complete 52 chart atlas of the sky put together by Wil Tirion with notes on objects in each chart, clever finder charts and tables for the planets for a ten year period, history and lore of the naming of the constallations, many, many photographs of astronomical objects taken by Hubble and other telescopes, an atlas of the moon, and many enlightening charts and tables of things like details of the brightest/nearest stars, the planets and their moons, and so on.

There's a section on each of the planets, and of course lots of coverage of the sun and eclipses of the sun and moon.

It always surprises me that this book doesn't seem to get as much respect in astronomical circles as I think it deserves. While you can certainly fill a library with astronomical books and atlases that are better than this field guide in any one area, you will not do better than this book in stuffing all of that information together in one "to go" package.

An excellent gift for a child starting to get interested in science and the world at large.

I could go on, but you should just buy the book and see for yourself :-)

G.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bigger and Better than ever, November 25, 1999

By 

Bruce Appelbaum (Yorktown Heights, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Field Guide to Stars and Planets (Peterson Field Guide) (Paperback)

The new 4th edition of this field guide has been expanded by 100 pages, and the star maps are now in color. It has been updated, with new and better photos. A little more pricey than the previous edition, but the added and enhanced content makes it a tremendous value.

A terrific introduction to astronomy that deserves a place in every star-gazer's library.